Appeals Court to Hear Arguments on Teen Sniper

Malvo was 17 when he was arrested in random shootings that killed 10 people in and around the nation’s capital in 2002.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The life sentences given to a sniper who terrorized the D.C. region more than 15 years ago will be re-examined by a federal appeals court.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is set to hear arguments Tuesday on an appeal of a federal judge’s ruling granting new sentencing hearings for Lee Boyd Malvo.

Malvo was 17 when he was arrested in random shootings that killed 10 people in and around the nation’s capital in 2002.

A judge ruled last year that Malvo is entitled to new hearings in Virginia under a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that made its ban on mandatory life-without-parole for juvenile offenders retroactive, extending it to people who were already sentenced before it ruled that such punishments are unconstitutional.

Malvo’s accomplice was executed in Virginia in 2009.